"Hello Nicholas ... I'm going to cut to the chase," the letter states. "I know about the secret you are keeping from your wife and everyone else."

The writer of the letter then adds that he accidentally stumbled upon Hardwick's supposed transgression without mentioning what the transgression actually was.

"You don't know me personally and nobody hired me to look into you. Nor did I go out looking to burn you. It is just your bad luck that I stumbled across your misadventures while working a job around San Diego," the letter says. "I then put in more time than I probably should have looking into your life. Frankly, I am ready to forget all about you and let you get on with your life."

The blackmail part of this blackmail letter comes a few paragraphs later when the writer demands a $7,650 "confidentiality fee" to keep Hardwick's secret. The problem for the writer is that Hardwick doesn't actually have a secret.